Серия «Тибетский язык», курс 1: Тибетский алфавит, занятие 4

[Speaker 1]
Okay, so today we're going to finish the 30 consonants of the Tibetan language. And that will bring us, since there are 7 and a half rows of Tibetan, each row has 4 consonants in it. So, 7 times 4 is 28, and then 2 letters at the end.

So, we've finished now 20 consonants already. We have 10 more to go. So, the goal of this video is to finish the last 10.

We taught the first 15, because they hang together in a certain pattern. Kachitabatsa, repeated 3 times. And then we did the nasals, because they hang together in a certain pattern.

There's no pattern for the last 2 and a half rows. So they just kind of hang out by themselves. Just so you can see it visually, I'm going to write the first 5 rows that we've already finished.

Just quickly, okay, so this will be a little tiny review. We have column 1, column 2, column 3, column 4. We have row 1, row 2, row 3, row 4, and row 5.

Say kak. Kak. By the way, this is also alphabetical order, the way we're doing it.

Alphabetical order goes like this. Which is becoming less important as things become digitalized. Like, to use a dictionary, you don't care anymore.

But, if you're going to use old texts that are alphabetized, then you have to know ka. Ka. Ka.

Mark's got the eyebrow thing. Okay. And then na.

Okay, now we go to the palate. That's the gutturals. Now we go to the palate.

Cha. Cha. Cha.

Cha. Nga. Must be low tone, okay?

The nasals must be low tone. Otherwise they change meaning. Now we go to the dentals, which are right behind the teeth.

Say ta. Ta. Ta.

Ta. Okay, and na. Obviously when you're drawing ta and na, sometimes there'll be a carving.

The carvings will look similar. And you have to be careful with that. Generally the angle of this na will be different than this angle.

Okay, and that's how you tell. Sometimes they carve it poorly, but the angle will be clear. So you just have to watch the angle of this bottom here.

Obviously this one should be longer, but sometimes it's not, in a carving. Learning to read a carving is a whole art in itself, and we'll have a class about it. What's next?

Pa. Yeah, the labials. Say pa.

Pa. Pa. Ma.

It should have a circle, okay? Ma. Okay.

Sa. Sa, okay. By the way, this little flag is called a ca hat.

And it's the only distinction between these two rows, right? This one gets a little S here, which is called a ca hat. Which means a ca row flag.

Ca. Ca. And then what?

Wa. Okay. Okay.

By the way, those of you who care, which is nobody, but it's okay. The palatal row from Sanskrit was represented in Tibetan characters by using this row and not this row. They say, for king, what's the word for king in Sanskrit?

Raja. Raja. Raja.

But in ancient India they said Radza. Radza. So when the Tibetans used to write to Sanskrit in Tibetan letters, they chose this row and they never used this row at all.

Radza. Pancha. Five.

Like that. Pancha. So really, my Sanskrit teacher was excited to hear that because he had a theory that it was really za and za.

And then I confirmed it for him. So he was really excited about it. Radza.

Pancha. Like chakra, not chakra. Chakra is the correct pronunciation from ancient India.

All right. So we're on the last two and a half rows. Row six.

Say sha. Sha. Low tone, sibilant.

Sha. Sha. Okay.

Sha. If you say sha, it's a different letter. The vowel quality is a rather than a.

We don't say sha. We say sha. Sha.

Sha of Iran. Sha. Okay.

And the same for the next one. So these two kind of hold together. Say sa.

Sa. Sa. This is an SA.

This is an SHA. This is SA. This is SHA.

Both low tone. Don't get confused between this and this. This is the reverse of this, okay?

When the squiggles go to the right, it's ja. When they go to the left, it's sa. Okay?

So that's a nice, easy way to remember. These two hang together. They're both sibilants, meaning S sounds.

And they're both low tone. So say sha. Sha.

Sa. Sa. Okay.

And here's the next one. Say ah. Ah.

Ah. And then ya. Ya.

Ya. Okay. Say sha.

Sha. Sa. Sa.

Ah. Ah. Ya.

Ya. The only common denominator is they're all low tone. Okay?

They're all low tone. Sha, sa, ah, ya. The first two are sibilants, S sounds.

Sha, sa, ah, ya. Okay? Be careful about this one, because we're going to meet some people who sound similar.

And you have to learn. There's three ah sounds in Tibetan, and they're not the same. So we'll try to distinguish between them.

Sha, sa, ah. Obviously, the column thing has broken down now. The column thing doesn't hold before, after the fifth row.

Okay? You don't say, catch it up. It's a sha.

Okay? All right. Seven.

Say rah. Rah. An English R, normally, and a lot of Asians have trouble with this, because their R's, or Spanish R's, are rolled.

They are a result of a trilling of the tongue behind, on the palate. Ruffles have ridges. You see?

Rah. Rah. You don't touch your teeth.

Rah. An English R is made with the front teeth, upper front teeth on the lower lip. Rah.

Really good. Really good. You see?

And Asians have a lot of trouble with that. They want to say, really good. So I worked in Thailand.

I sold gemstones. I bought gemstones in Thailand. We dealt with three companies.

One was called Rare Gems. One was called Real Gems. And one was called Leer Gems.

But to my secretary, who was from Bangkok, it was all, lol. You see? Because they make the R from the same place that we make the L.

You see? La. So Little Gems is here.

I said, which one? Real, Leer, or Rare? And she said, whoa.

You know? OK. So in Tibetan, don't make an R the English way.

Tibetan R is not made with your top front teeth on your lower lip. Really? I'm really excited.

That's really good. We don't do that. It's the inside of your bottom lip.

The top front teeth against the inside of your lower lip is an English R. Really? Really?

OK? It's not that in Tibetan. It's a ra.

[Speaker 2]
OK?

[Speaker 1]
Ra. Rinchen for valuable. Rinpoche for precious one.

Ra. Say ra. So you have to get used to it.

It's not ra. OK? It's ra.

All right? It's a trilling of the tongue against the palate toward back. Farther back than a ra.

OK? So just get used to that. Ra.

Medium tone. You don't say ra. You don't say ra.

OK? You say ra. Medium tone, which we haven't had really so far.

Didn't say la. Normal English LA. OK?

La. Long. OK?

La. Medium tone. Ra.

La. Ra. La.

OK, now we get something a little tricky. Sha. What tone is that?

Sha. High tone. What tone is this?

Sha. OK? Say sha.

Sha. Sha. Sha.

Sha. OK? They're not the same sound, right?

They're both an SHA sound. But this is a low tone SHA sound. And this is a high tone SHA sound.

OK? Sha. Sha.

Sha. Now there's a thing called transcription or transliteration. It's English letters meant to give you the correct spelling of a Tibetan word.

The transcription for this one is ZHA. The transcription for this one is SHA. But it doesn't mean you pronounce this as ZH.

And everyone gets it wrong. No one understands that. OK?

They're both SHA. They're both exactly the same. One's high tone.

One's low tone. OK? So don't go around saying ZHA.

OK? That's a transcription. It's not a pronunciation.

We're going to have a whole series of videos just about that. Say sha. Sorry.

Sha. Sha. Sha.

Sha. Then your pronunciation is so cool. Sha means hat.

Sha means meat. You don't want to say, can you put some meat on my head? OK?

You know what I mean? You just got to get it straight. Say ra.

Ra. La. La.

Sha.

[Speaker 2]
Sha.

[Speaker 1]
And here we go. Sha. Sha.

We already had a... Sha. Low tone SHA.

Now we have a... Sha. High tone SHA.

The transcription for this is ZHA. The transcription for this is SHA. This is never to be pronounced ZHA.

That's wrong. OK? That's a transcription.

It's not the pronunciation. Say sha. Sha.

Sha. Sha. The vowel value is AH.

A-H. Ah. Sha.

Sha. Sha. Sha.

Sha. Sha. Really the vowel is a U if you think about it.

Ah. Sha. Sha.

OK? Sha means earth. Hla Sa means land of the gods.

It's Los Angeles. OK? Hla Sa.

OK? Sa means to eat. OK?

I sawed today. It means I ate today. I went to Sa means I went to Hla Sa city.

OK? So these are totally different sounds and totally different meaning. And if you don't pronounce them right, which 99% of foreigners don't, they have no idea what you're trying to say.

You know? Do they want to eat something? Or do they want meat on their head?

Or do they want dirt on their plate? You know? It's so important to pronounce it correctly and people just don't get it.

OK? I'm sorry to say. OK.

We've got two more letters to go and we're done with the 30 consonants. This one's really cute. Say ha.

Ha. Did we have this sound before? What's this one?

Ah. Ah. OK?

So let's do this. Ah. OK?

Ah. And this is? Ha.

Ha. OK? So the H sound comes before.

Here the H sound comes afterwards. Say ha. Ah.

Ah. This one's obviously low tone. This one's middle tone.

Ha. Ha. Ah.

Ha. Ha. Ah.

Now we've got one more. And then we're done. There's a debate in the classical text about whether this is a vowel or a consonant, and I'm not going to worry about it.

OK? Ah. Ah.

OK? Ah. Like om ah hum.

OK? This is ah. So ah.

Ah. Low tone. Ah.

Ha. Ha. Ah.

Ah's the mother sound of all languages. It's the mother sound of human languages. It's called the Sok in Tibetan.

Sok means the life. And it is assumed to be contained in every consonant already. There's no separate vowel sign for that.

This is not k. This is ka. This is not k.

It's ka. The a is inherent in all Tibetan consonants. OK?

And that a is down here.

[Speaker 2]
OK?

[Speaker 1]
So we have three a sounds, not to be confused with each other. Low tone. Ah.

Medium tone. Ha. And then just ah.

The mother, you know, it's the first sound that all humans make when they come out of their mom. It's just ah. OK?

And it's the life. It's the Sok of all other letters. OK?

So that completes the 30 Tibetan consonants. First congratulations for surviving this far. Next we'll be going on to the vowels of Tibetan.

And then you'll be able to start making real words. OK? Thank you.

And see you in the next video.